


a comedy of errors

by ali_summerset



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Plagg Is So Done, Supportive Tikki, adrien is a dork, marinette is also a dork, mistaken identity shenanigans, nino and alya as a greek chorus, will I be able to write it well???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 10:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15683799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ali_summerset/pseuds/ali_summerset
Summary: three times adrien has to say 'i'm sorry'a case of mistaken identity, though not in the way you would expect





	a comedy of errors

**Author's Note:**

> “ _I want to be the friend you fall hopelessly in love with. The one you take into your arms and into your bed and into the private world you keep trapped in your head. I want to be that kind of friend. The one who will memorize the things you say as well as the shape of your lips when you say them. I want to know every curve, every freckle, every shiver of your body._
> 
>  _I want to know where to touch you, I want to know how to touch you. I want to convince you to design a smile just for me. Yes, I do want to be your friend. I want to be your best friend in the entire world._ ”  
> ― Tahereh Mafi, Unravel Me

Nino thinks of himself as a good friend.

 

He doesn’t mean to brag or anything, but he’s a pretty easygoing guy who gets along well with anyone – the very epitome of chill.

 

Well, except maybe for that one period of time when he was crushing hard on Marinette. He was decidedly un-chill then. See, he’d always liked Marinette. Before there was an Adrien, before there was an Alya, he and Marinette were pretty tight. Maybe they weren’t the status of best friends, but they could be called childhood friends, like Adrien and Chloe. Wait, bad comparison.

 

Anyway, there was a period of time in middle school where he was awkward, still coming into his own and defining himself through his music. Shy Marinette and Gangly Nino, what a pair they made. It was easy to crush on Marinette, pretty and nice as she was, Marinette who helped him gain his cool with how she sincerely cheered him on as he practiced spinning, Marinette who bobbed her head along contentedly while listening to one of the personalized mixes he made for her. That ‘like’ had always been a low-simmering thing at the back of his head, but it was suddenly brought to the forefront like a scratchy vinyl that suddenly transformed into high definition audio.

 

He chalks it up to the new life brought in his once-shy friend. She started to laugh more, the red flush on her cheeks bringing up his own. He guesses he has to thank Alya for that. Oh, and also Adrien.

 

Adrien found out. Of course he did, with how stupid he was acting. And then his best bro decided to take charge, and wait when did that happen? Adrien was the innocent, home-schooled prince who was supposed to be flustered around girls except when it came to modeling. He was supposed to be the suave one with the ladies.

 

But the Adrien during that time was confident, self-possessed, as he outlined a plan to win Marinette’s heart. Adrien had seemed to vibrate with barely-contained energy, and Nino had to wonder why.

 

“Maybe when you and Marinette start dating, she’ll start to be more comfortable around me. I _want_ to be her friend too,” he’d said excitedly, as if in response to Nino’s unspoken question.

 

If Nino hadn’t been green with nausea at the prospect of hanging out with the object of his crush, he’d wonder at that strange emphasis. He’d wonder why Marinette treated Adrien differently. It wouldn’t be strange if it was the old, shy Marinette. But this new Marinette was as social as a butterfly, friends with everyone disliked by none (except Chloe except that Chloe was an exception to everything). But he’d been and he was, so he didn’t think much of it anymore.

 

Until _J’etaime Marinette_.

 

He remembers thinking that he had to reevaluate his whole perception of Adrien just then. The only people who could deliver a line like that so smoothly were lady-killers or…

 

It wasn’t just the embarrassment that made him hesitate. Nino doesn’t think himself unreasonable. What normal 15-year old boy could say a line like that straight-faced; when he wasn’t 100% sure he meant it?

 

Because the thing was he wasn’t sure that this crush of his was as deep as Adrien wanted or expected it to be. It was as if the other boy expected that of course Nino would be in love with Marinette, since who _wouldn’t_ be in love with sweet, amazing Marinette? It was those loopy lines of logic that caused him to fumble and make the mistake that apparently had been the best one of his life thus far.

 

It seemed Lady Luck had been smiling at him since gazing into Marinette’s face after apparently declaring his feelings for Alya, he realized he never had a chance, and at least with this he didn’t have to damage this precious friendship they shared. The feeling that gripped him then was resigned relief.

It was nothing to Adrien’s disappointment after the adventure of the day.

 

“I’m sorry that it didn’t work out with Marinette,” said Adrien, nudging his shoulder as they walked the way home.

 

Nino shrugged, smiling, as he side-eyed his best friend. “I’m not. Thanks to that clustermess, I got the chance to find out I had something special with Alya. But bro, worst wing-man ever,” he joked, nudging him back.

 

Adrien furrowed his brows as if unable to contemplate getting over someone you liked to start something with someone new. “But Marinette though…I mean, not that Alya isn’t great. She’s awesome, but Marinette deserves someone too,” he said decisively.

 

 _‘How about that someone be you?’_ He gained clarity after talking with Alya. About a lot of things. Nino snorted, and said instead, “You know you can still be friends with Marinette without me wingmanning – which by the way I’d do a lot better than you – for you. Trust me, she doesn’t bite.”

 

Adrien flushed with embarrassment, as Nino smirked good-naturedly. Finally, the world was right again. “But she acts like she thinks _I_ do.”

 

Nino couldn’t stop the laugh that came out that time. “Well, do you?” He asks, still chortling, and the conversation turned into the familiar ribbing that was par-the-course for adolescent boys.

 

So yes, Nino thinks he’s a good friend. To Adrien and to Marinette. He ‘thinks’ because he used to be sure about what being a ‘good friend’ meant. He thinks and he wonders, because he’s been with Alya for months now, and he can barely say ‘I like you’ most of the time, much less an ‘I love you’. He thinks and he wonders, because Adrien came to him one day, eyes shining, and declared, all smiles and sunshine, that finally, finally, he and Marinette were friends. He thinks and wonders because Adrien wants to be friends with everyone, but treats Marinette differently, and doesn’t even realize it.

 

He suspects, but he won’t tell Marinette, and not even Alya, his girlfriend, because one way or another, it’ll reach Marinette. He suspects, but he won’t tell anyone, because he’s a good friend to Marinette and he doesn’t want to raise her hopes.

 

But still he suspects. He suspects that if he’s a good friend to Marinette, Adrien must want to be her best friend in the whole world.

* * *

Alya considers herself a journalist.

 

To be a successful journalist is to be without biases, so that she can report the truth as it is. But Alya is only human, and she has to admit to certain biases. Especially when it comes to her best friend.

 

Marinette is amazing. It should be considered objective fact, Alya justifies to herself. It bears repeating because Marinette doesn’t believe it herself, but Alya had told her that even Adrien would realize it too eventually.

 

Alya is a journalist. Her job is to investigate and analyze and predict future trends. So that statement had been her partly speaking as a journalist, but mostly speaking as a best friend.

 

She didn’t expect she’d be proven right so soon.

 

‘Amazing,’ Adrien called Marinette after seeing the designs for his father’s contest. ‘Amazing,’ he described her after she beat his butt soundly at video games. ‘Amazing’ he dubbed her after getting her autograph for an album cover she personally designed. Amazing dancing, amazing baking, amazing drawing, exclaimed in awe or whispered in delight, no matter, it was the same refrain repeated. For every blunder and every crash of her clumsy friend, they were overshone by her talents in Adrien’s eyes.

 

And Alya was glad for it that her girl was getting the recognition she deserved, from her prince no less, even if she didn’t seem to accept all of the effusive praise thrown her way. Yet, Alya couldn’t blame her. If it was any other boy, the same words and actions spelled an obvious story, one where Alya wouldn’t hesitate to tell Marinette, ‘Girl, lock that down already’, but this was Adrien and he was an innocuous puzzle that Alya was still busy solving.

 

They all have secrets. Marinette, Adrien, even Nino, in whose eyes she could see that he wasn’t ready to divulge them to her yet, as if for her own good. Couldn’t he see they were on the same boat, the same bemused, hapless observers, and occasional interferers, only wanting what’s best for their best friends?

 

And she does. She does want what’s best for Marinette. Which is why she can’t tell her her vague conclusions yet. That would be half-baked journalism, and Alya is no half-baked reporter. They key to untangling this is Adrien.

 

Alya isn’t new to the teenage ritual of flirting. Nino isn’t her first boyfriend after all (even if he does make her feel unlike anyone else has before, ugh, enough with the sap). But Adrien is a facsimile of a teenage boy. Alya is used to discovering patterns and making connections and conjectures, but how can one compare when the subject is a unique case study? Is it because he’s been sheltered that his reactions seem to differ? But that can’t be right. He replicates teenage interaction with their other friends well enough, almost like a real boy, Alya thinks wryly. _Almost, but not quite._ Because Marinette is also his friend, but with her, he beams, sunrays bursting out, through his eyes, through his smile, through his words of praise, inflected in his voice. Alya gets sunspots just from standing in the fringes. No wonder Marinette always looks down while speaking to Adrien. If not, she’d probably go blind. It is this discrepancy that has Alya second-guessing herself. She can’t risk Marinette’s heart on a guess.

 

So for now, she’ll nudge and she’ll plot, but she won’t tell Marinette anything certain, until something is certain. She can control her own actions so they won’t negatively impact Marinette, but she can’t say the same for Adrien’s. She’s not even sure if ‘control’ is the right word, if Adrien is even conscious of himself. So she can only watch and hope – that for all her careful planning that something unpredictable won’t break Marinette’s heart anyway.

She can only hope that Adrien will not break Marinette’s heart anyway.

 

o 

 


End file.
